It’s mid-December, so we’re getting to that point where it’s time to look back at the year. DJ Earworm gave us a four-minute look back at 2014’s 25 most popular pop songs, as determined by Billboard.
His mashup, “Do What You Wanna Do,” isn’t bad, but it’s not DJ Earworm’s best. Granted, he has to work with whatever the top 25 songs are, so he doesn’t have a choice in his source material unless he wants to deviate from his previous annual mashups. He’s been doing these since 2008.
Previous mashups have flowed better musically, or have had more a more cohesive story. 2014’s starts out cohesively, but the introduction of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” seems a bit abrupt. That’s quickly forgotten when Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” is thrown in even more abruptly. It doesn’t fit musically or lyrically, and the sample is sped up a distractingly large amount.
Though the mashup as a whole could flow better, plenty of its sections are made of songs that mesh well. Maroon 5’s “Animals” and Pharrell’s “Happy” mix well. Somewhat surprisingly, so do “Shake It Off” and Jason Derulo and 2 Chainz’s “Talk Dirty.”
Some songs were more dominant this year’s mashup, while other years have been more balanced. “Shake It Off,” “All About That Bass,” and “Animals” stood out in “Do What You Wanna Do,” probably too much.
The 2009 mashup, “Blame It on the Pop,” bounced between a lot of quick snippets, particularly at the beginning, that meshed well into one song.
Regardless of how well each mashup’s songs mesh together, each year’s mashup is a nice quick reminder of that year’s pop music, and the year itself. All the memories associated with all the songs come back to listeners at once. Prepare for some nostalgia if you’re going to listen back through all of DJ Earworm’s work, which is all available on YouTube.
